Case Study: CDI Marine achieves double‑payload air‑cushion vehicle designs with ANSYS CFX

ANSYS CFX for Air Cushion Vehicle Design

CDI Marine Systems Development Division, a specialist in naval architecture and marine systems, faced a challenge designing a new air‑cushion vehicle (ACV) with propellers and lift fans capable of carrying twice the payload of the existing design. They needed simulation tools that would integrate directly with their blade design system and fully utilize CPU resources for running scores of design iterations. CDI Marine turned to ANSYS, using ANSYS CFX and CFX‑TurboGrid for their turbomachinery analyses.

ANSYS implemented an automated workflow where CFX‑TurboGrid reads geometry from the blade design system and produces high‑quality all‑hex meshes, while the ANSYS CFX solver delivers rapid, reliable convergence for multi‑frame analyses with results that agree closely with experimental tests. Using ANSYS tools and a PC cluster, CDI Marine generated scores of design alternatives, converged on an optimized solution in orders‑of‑magnitude less time than building and testing a single prototype, and reduced run time to tackle larger, more detailed problems.

CDI Marine

John Purnell

Senior Engineer